Smyrna times., 1887-05-25
The Other Side of the Irish
Question.

The Other Side of the Irish
Question.
1t will no doubt appear surprising to
the people of this country who read
none but American newspapers, that
there are two sides to the Irish uues-
ton which is now filling England with
the clamOr of the angry contestants in
and out of Parliament and the news
paper press. Yet such is really the
case. What Americans understand
1t is, that the Irish people, long ago
subjugated by the English, have by
the superiority of force been continued
in subsection. 1t is true that the hard
conditions of the conquered have been
sOitened but it is equally true that
they are still hard enough. The Amer
icans-being themselves free, having
by force of arms, after bitter and
bloody struggle lasting eight years.
their freedom from the same power
that still Expresses Ireland-have moth
ing but sympathy for the people ofthat
country who are making their battle
for like freedom. They cannot under
stand that the English people, them
selves so free, should in the evening of
the nineteenth century treat Ireland as
Russia treats Poland. They see that
Grand Old Man." Gladstone, battling
in his advanced and feeble age as val.
iantly, if not as Justify, as youth itself
for Irish freedom against the British
government and British prejudice, and
they not unnatuTally think that the
cause he so stOutly defends must be
right. In the main it is right; and vet
there being another side to the Irish
question, it is extremely doubtful if the
right will ever be successfully estab-
lished. In the affairs of nations, as in
those of persons, there is the principle
of expediency, which is the controlling
one. Into this Irish question there en-
ters this principle, which conflicts with
the right which underlies it, and which
renders it impossible for the average
BritOn to see the wrong of keeping Ire
land in subsection. England would be
glad to get rid of this trouble, which is
the worst she has, and of which the
Spectator says, Lord Salisbury's SEN
tence in which he compared the Irish
question to nightmare is as true as it
was rhetorical" The Spectator cries
to England, 'patience!" and declares
that the struggle is to have no early.
dramatic ending, but that
" 1t will stretch ont endlessly, like a
Lincolnshire road, on which a coach.
though it be driven fast, makes no per.
ceptible way; or like one of those
dreary Russian plains which are said,
in their never-ending fatness and
and tame similarity, to have begotten
/ in the Russian mind that note of des-
pair and that quality of resignation
which now appear its national charac-
teristics. The Irish will not
rise in insurrectiOn, the English will
not sanction revolutionary methods
aud so the struggle may last like that
of the wave and the cliff"
Hence, says the Spectator, let Eng
land be patient.
If the case is really so hopeless a.
that, why then do not the English DeO
pie gracefully yield to the inevitable
and grant Ireland the Home Rule
which Mr. Gladstone would have
granted her when last he was at the
head of the Governments The answer
to this is easy enough, and really
covers the entire British side of the
case: it is that England can no more
grant Ireland that real Home Rule
which Ireland eventually seeks, which
is absolute separation autonomy, than
in 1860 the Northern States could have
let the Southern CommOnweaIths 90
and recognized them as a Confederacy
Putting aside all the ideas and feeling.
of patriotism which induced the NOrtL
to resist secession, the question of ex.
pediency alone would have induced
and compelled the resistance, The
North never could have permitted a
foreign nation to control the mouth Oi
the Mississippi River or any part of the
banks of the Ohio no more car
England tolerate Il foreign, certain t.
be hostile nation just across the Chan
mel from her as Ireland is. 1t is the
misfortune, say of Ireland's geOgraphi
cal position, that she is OneOf England's
strOnghOlds and breastwOrks, and one
which England for her own safety mus
retain her control of. Nations are nor
different from corporations in that they
have no souls, aud, being sOulless, they
cannot be expected to disregard the
selfish law of self-preservation any
more than persons can. Mr. Glad
stones contention is that if the Irish
are granted moderate measure o
Home Rule, they will be satisfied with
it.. That is not the common belief: il
is the belief of no one who has been
made familiar with Ireland's demands
as they have been promulgated in this
country, and in Ireland, too, though
I ftssns, l. lrro II LET
majority of Englishmen, who are re,
presented by the Conservative and
Liberal UniOnist majority in Parlia.
ment, know that nothing which can be
given to Ireland short of absolute free
dom, separation from England, will
permanently satisfy the Irish people
They have cause to hate England
England's rule, and Englishmen and
they do hate them. There is no more
love between them than there is be-
tween Russia and Poland, Germany
and Alsace-Lorraine. And there is no
reason why there should be. England
does not let Ireland 90 because she
cannot, dare not because, were she to
do so, she would be wedged in between
countries which might at any time be
enemies, and which, uniting against her
in common and simultaneous attack
could render her defence impossible.
The English side of the Irish question
is that of self-preservatiOn and the even
more selfish Ones of the relf-interest OF
persons, who own the land inIreland
which Irishmen till and for which thew
pay oppressive rents, will :have its
weight against Irsh demands -PkiLa-
deIphid Bulletin.